


Star of the Sea

by SilverSnowblossom



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alibaba becomes king of Balbadd, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cassim and Mariam go with Alibaba to the palace, Cassim doesn't die, Cassim/Alibaba is only there is you tilt your head and squint, Childhood Friends, Gen, SI-OC, Self-Insert, Self-insert Mariam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26939878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSnowblossom/pseuds/SilverSnowblossom
Summary: “Don’t forget us,” Mariam says, pressing a red cord she wove into Alibaba’s hands. Maybe it’s selfish of her, to chain him to them like that, but she doesn’t want him to leave them behind.Alibaba looks at it, then looks at her. “Come with me,” he says, pleads. And— she wants to, she does. Of course, she has to convince Cassim first....“Are you really just going to let him leave?” she challenges her brother. It’s part-bluff; if Cassim really does choose to stay, she’ll stay with him too. She won’t leave her brother alone in the slums.But Cassim’s always been accommodating of his younger sister and her whims. “Okay,” he says, and lets her pull him to meet Alibaba.When Alibaba leaves for the palace, they go with him.(Or: Self-Insert Mariam, and how things change.)
Relationships: Kassim | Cassim & Alibaba Saluja, Kassim | Cassim/Alibaba Saluja, Mariam & Alibaba Saluja
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	Star of the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Restricted Work] by [MathIsMagic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MathIsMagic/pseuds/MathIsMagic). Log in to view. 



> A/N: I’m trying something new here (but also because I don’t really have the time to flesh this all out). So what you get is a bunch of drabble-esque note-type fic snippets. The first bits are a lot more fleshed out than the rest, since I kind of ran out of steam. Oops. 
> 
> Actually, if anyone wants to flesh it out further, by all means, feel free to. I’d love to read it. 
> 
> But, yeah, I love Magi, and I haven’t posted in a while, so I figured I might as well put this up. I’ve always loved Alibaba’s backstory and the whole Balbadd arc, so I figured using an SI to further explore those ideas would make for a pretty interesting fic. Part of that’s also influenced by my recent dive into DoS and the spin-offs of Dreaming of Sunshine. 
> 
> The title is from me googling what the name "Mariam" means. Apparently it means “sea of bitterness,” “drop of the sea,” “star of the sea,” “rebelliousness,” “exalted one,” “beloved,” and “wished for child.” I chose “star of the sea” because Balbadd. 
> 
> Also, is Cassim’s name spelled Cassim, with a C, or Kassim?
> 
> Well, here’s to hoping you all enjoy reading this—it was certainly a lot of fun to write. :)

* * *

**...**

_Star of the Sea_

**...**

* * *

1\. A screech of rubber against pavement. The thud of impact. Screaming. The world blurs around her and then tilts sharply. She’s falling.

Words are flying around her. Through her blurry vision, she vaguely makes out several blobs of color. People, maybe. Distantly, as though through a long tunnel or as though underwater, she hears voices. “ _Someone’s been hit— call the ambulance— hurry—”_

She’s gone before the paramedics even get there.

(She dies choking on a sea of her own blood.)

2\. That should be the end of it, but it’s not. 

She wakes up. 

She wakes up, utterly unable to move, eyesight weak and blurry. She wakes up one day old again, a tiny, weak, _helpless_ baby. 

Her name is Mariam. Her new older brother is called Cassim, their mother is dead, and their father is a piece of shit.

She mourns, of course she does. She mourns a life cut short, for the friends and families she’ll never see again, for the life and future she’d never have. She’s torn between pissed and depressed that all her years of tears and sweat and blood studying to be a doctor has now been completely wasted due to a driver who ran a red light. 

So she’s sullen and quiet and withdrawn for those first years, but that’s okay. It isn’t as though babies are expected to have scintillating conversations anyway. She’s pulled out of her funk quickly enough. It’s difficult to pity oneself when just _surviving_ is hard; there is no time for anything else. 

She doesn’t realize where, exactly, she’s born reborn until much, much later. In her defense, she thinks, she had no reason to believe that this world wasn’t simply an incredibly underdeveloped, cut-off area of the world. It isn’t as though slums didn’t exist; she’d simply just never been to one, privileged to be in the middle-class as she was. 

And if there was maybe something familiar about Cassim’s name, or a nagging familiarity every time she looked at her brother’s face, or of their country Balbadd (where had she heard that before?), she brushed if off. It probably wasn’t important. Life in the slums is hard enough without having her head in the clouds. She’s more worried about whether or not they will be able to afford to eat that night.

3\. Their father is a drunk, abusive bastard. Cassim hates him, and she doesn’t blame him. She’s aware enough to be wary of their father, but somehow, the first time he hits her still comes as a surprise. Maybe it’s because Cassim’s always been careful about keeping their father away from her when they were younger, taking care of her himself. She’s seen the bruises on him, of course, but she hadn’t realized…

It’s not even over something she did, is the thing. Cassim’s out, one of the rare times he leaves her, and their father comes stumbling in, the stench of alcohol wafting off his breath. He’s just looking for a target, to vent his frustration, and she’s a convenient one. 

At first, she’s just shocked. Then comes the pain, blinding and burning, and she is only two years old. She’s just two years old, and her tiny, trembling two-year-old body bursts into ugly tears. She’s weak, and each hit is like fire, searing into her skin. Thankfully, their father passes out a few hits in.

She drags herself as far away from him as she can in their tiny, ramshackle hut. She can’t stop the hiccuping sobs. 

Cassim finds her like that, curled up in the corner and bawling her eyes out. He’s furious. “How _dare_ he,” he hisses. He glares at the slumbering form of their father, as though contemplating murder, but hesitates. She can tell he wants to lash out, to retaliate, but he doesn’t. Instead, he sits by her for the rest of the day, awkwardly comforting her as well as a five-year-old can, until the tears stop and she falls asleep.

4\. And then one day when she’s maybe three years old, she goes to the scrap heap that is their playground and finds Cassim tussling with a golden-eyed, golden-haired boy of about five years old. 

_Fuck_. Like a flash of lightning, she realizes just _where_ she’s ended up, just why Cassim seems so familiar and just _where_ she heard the word Balbadd before. The pieces click into place. Even through fading memories, she remembers flashes and snippets, and she’d been a fan of anime Before. Magi was one of them, and child or no, she recognizes those features. 

Alibaba Saluja, third prince of Balbadd, deuteragonist of the anime (well, and manga, but she only watched the anime) Magi. 

She’s in the world of _Magi_.

The revelation plays on repeat in her head. It takes some time to sink in, and then she feels like crying. Not only is she not on Earth, like she’d thought, she is in a world she’d never have chosen to be reborn in. Sure, Magi wasn’t the _worst_ world to be born in, but it’s pretty far down the list as far as she’s concerned.

She maybe breaks down a little. 

She lets herself have a pity party for a couple of minutes, and then pulls herself together. No sense worrying Cassim.

5\. Alibaba is wide-eyed and innocent, emotions worn openly on his sleeve. She likes him immediately. It’s not his fault that his very presence had shattered her world-view, after all.

(Although it does get her thinking about her own mortality… she doesn’t remember Mariam from Before. Which means that canon Mariam had probably died, because otherwise, she’s fairly certain she would have shown up when Cassim did in the show. Which kind of sucks, because it means she might die before she even reaches her teens.)

6\. Anise is sweet and kind, and has no problems taking them in when their father “mysteriously” goes missing one night. (She pretends she doesn’t see the knife missing from their collection. She’s surprised it took this long for Cassim to snap, actually. And anyway, she’d never cared about that bastard. Good riddance, she thinks.)

7\. They’re happy for a while. But then Anise dies, and everything goes downhill. They survive, doing odd jobs around, but Cassim starts pulling away from them. She tries bridging the gap, but she can’t seem to reach him.

And then he starts stealing, and she watches, because there is nothing else she can do. She can’t stop him, and he won’t let her help.

8\. Cassim’s feelings about Alibaba are… complicated. He loved Alibaba as much as he hated him, hated him as much as he admired him, admired him as much as he resented him. It’s a vicious tangle of emotions, of back-and-forth hate-love-hate-love. 

In a way, she gets it. Fair-haired and golden-eyed, Alibaba shone against the blacks and grays of the slums. Even dirt-smudged and dressed in rags, he’s _pure_ in a way that few of them were. He was too good for the slums, and Cassim knew it. 

So finding out he’s a prince is really not too much of a surprise.

9\. “Don’t forget us,” she says, pressing a red cord she wove into Alibaba’s hands. It was meant to be a present, but she supposes they’ll never be able to celebrate his birthday together now. Maybe it’s selfish of her, to chain him to them like that, but she doesn’t want him to leave his old life behind entirely. Leave _them_ behind. 

Alibaba looks at it, then looks at her. “Come with me,” he says, pleads. And— she wants to, she does. Of course, she has to convince Cassim first. She tells Alibaba that. “I’ll wait for you,” he promises.

That’s enough for her.

10\. “Are you really just going to let him leave?” she challenges. It’s part-bluff; if Cassim really does choose to stay, she’ll stay with him too. She won’t leave her brother alone in the slums. But at the same time… at the same time, she can’t just leave Alibaba to himself in a cold, empty palace, either. So it only makes sense for them to accompany him. 

In the end, she doesn’t have to worry about choosing between the two of them. Cassim’s always been accommodating of his younger sister and her whims. It’s enough to balance out the resentment. He loves Alibaba too, after all, underneath the self-loathing and insecurity. “Okay,” he says, and lets her pull him to meet Alibaba. 

When Alibaba leaves for the palace, they go with him.

11\. Alibaba learns Balbadd Royal Swordplay. Cassim teaches himself to fight with a broadsword in brawls with the guards. Her? Well, she’s staying out of this, thank you very much. Two decades of peaceful existence Before have not predisposed her towards fighting, and a decade in the slums has not changed that. She does learn to throw knives and shoot a bow though. No sense in being _completely_ helpless, and fighting from a distance is the best she'll get.

12\. When the king dies, there is no break-in at the treasury. There is no incident for Alibaba to feel guilty for, no reason to flee. The 22nd King of Balbadd announces his will, and Alibaba becomes king. She and Cassim are right there with him.

It’s not all smooth sailing, of course. Ahbmad isn’t just willing to step aside and let his younger half-brother take the throne without a fight. But with the king’s official will backing Alibaba, there is little he can do. It doesn’t hurt that Sahbmad is perfectly willing to step down and back Alibaba. There are assassinations and court politics at play, but in the end, Alibaba is crowned the 23rd King of Balbadd.

13\. Having Alibaba as king helps. He is his father’s son, and he is clever enough to not to fall prey to the Banker. His reaction to the offered Kou Faun is a firm no. Balbadd doesn’t fall into poverty and despair.

Life in the slums gets better too. Alibaba doesn’t forget his roots. Even if he did, it isn’t as though they would let him. Though there is little they can do about the leveled slums during the last years of Rashid’s reign and the plague that swept through there (and oh, is that how the canon Mariam would have died?), she and Alibaba and Cassim work to draft proposals and policies that help the poor.

Alibaba keeps all of his father's treaties, including the well established trade with Sindria.

With Cassim at the palace and Alibaba’s policies keeping his people from going hungry (as much as they can, anyway; even the king’s power is not absolute and ruling a kingdom is not easy), the Fog Troupe never forms. They don’t have reason to, after all. 

Balbadd prospers.

14\. Then, a few years after he’s crowned king, Alibaba shows up at her door, dressed in plain clothes and a travel pack in his hands. “Come on, let’s go on a trip,” he says. He’s always been fascinated with dungeons, and he’s never left Balbadd before. Now that things have settled down enough not to feel guilty about leaving, he wants to travel to the nearest dungeon, in Qishan. 

Cassim refuses to go. “Who knows what those incompetent fools in the government would do if all of us left?” He rolls his eyes. “You guys have fun. I’ll stay and watch things here.”

They go. Alibaba takes up the role of a caravan driver; he doesn’t want to be recognized as the king, so they’re not traveling as royalty would. This means a lot of camel-riding and walking by foot. She bites back the urge to complain. All these years at the palace has made her soft, she thinks.

15\. They meet Aladdin, munching on some other poor merchant’s merchandise. The merchant is furious when he finds out, and threatens to sell Aladdin into slavery to pay off the debt. Alibaba steps in, using some of the gold they packed to pay off the merchant. Aladdin is wide-eyed, confused but thankful. 

Alibaba doesn’t tell him his true identity as King of Balbadd. He’d like to keep it on the down-low, thank you very much.

16\. They meet Morgiana next. Mariam’s never been so glad that slavery is illegal in Balbadd. The practice is inhumane.

17\. Of course, like an idiot, Alibaba doesn’t tell her when he goes into the dungeon. She doesn’t find out until the dungeon starts sinking, and he’s sitting at the bottom, surrounded by gold. The pentagram of a djinn metal vessel is etched onto the dagger he always carries with him. 

She gives him an earful. “In my defense,” he says sheepishly, “I didn’t mean to enter the dungeon then. I was just checking it out, but Aladdin kinda slammed into me, and then next thing I knew, we were inside.”

She huffs. “Just don’t do that again.”

(By mutual agreement, they decide not to tell Cassim about the desert hyacinth and the many times Alibaba nearly died in the dungeon. They’re pretty sure he’ll find out anyway.)

18\. Alibaba frees all the slaves in Qishan. They wait for Aladdin for the next couple of days, but when he doesn’t show, they decide to return to Balbadd to drop off the treasure. They’ve been gone long enough, anyway; they’ll return, and then they can go looking for Aladdin.

19\. When Mariam finds out Morgiana is headed to the Dark Continent, she offers to let her travel with them. “Balbadd has ships headed towards pretty much anywhere,” she tells her. “I’m sure you can find a ride to your homeland there.” Morgiana agrees.

20\. Al-Thamen doesn’t get much of a foothold in Balbadd. That doesn’t stop Kouen and the Kou Empire itself from setting its sight on it. Balbadd is a trading hub, and its harbors would be valuable to any empire with its sights set on conquest. The situation is bad, Cassim tells them when they get back. Kou has sent a thinly-veiled threat in the form of a marriage treaty. The message is clear: accept, or else. 

Balbadd can’t possibly defeat the Kou Empire if they invade. That much is clear. Especially when Mariam, from her fuzzy memories from before, remembers that there are _five_ djinn metal vessel users on the enemy’s side. Yeah, they don’t have a choice. Balbadd is a trade nation, not one built for war. 

Alibaba reluctantly accepts the treaty, on the condition that they allow Balbadd to remain mostly under his jurisdiction. In exchange, they’ll have access to the ports. They’re actually fairly generous terms, for a nation that is about to be conquered.

21\. But at the same time, they have important trade relations with Sindria. They can’t just cut it off. What are they to tell Sinbad? They send out a courier carrying the message. It may take days or weeks for it to actually reach Sinbad. Mariam really misses the convenience of instant communication from Before.

22\. Mariam’s never trusted Sinbad, not since the first time she met him when the king visited after Alibaba’s coronation to congratulate him. Even with her fuzzy memories of Before, she knows enough not to trust him. He’s sly, and manipulative, and will do _anything_ to have his way. 

She knows Cassim doesn’t trust Sinbad either. But Alibaba… well. Alibaba idolises Sinbad, has ever since reading the _Adventures of Sinbad_. It’s where he got his desire to explore a dungeon. They don’t mention their suspicions to him. 

Sinbad’s response is short, and cordial, and tells them _absolutely nothing_ about what he thinks of it. It doesn't even address the issue at all. She’s wary. He’s definitely planning something.

23\. Kougyoku’s… alright, Mariam guesses. Certainly, there are worse people. The princess arrives five days before the wedding. She’s lonely, Mariam can tell. It wouldn’t hurt to have her on their side, so she befriends her. Kougyoku can’t actually meet Alibaba until the wedding day, per Kou traditions, and it’s clear to see that she’s apprehensive about the marriage.

It makes sense—she’s a metal vessel user, yet here she is marrying someone she doesn’t know for the sake of her country. It’s all new and foreign and perhaps a tad frightening, in a different way than the life and death fear of facing monsters inside dungeons. No, it’s the fear of the unknown. 

Mariam tries alleviating some of those fears. She tells Kougyoku about Alibaba, his kindness and how they grew up together. She doesn’t mention Amon’s vessel. Friendly as Kougyoku may be, she’s still a Kou princess. It’s better for Kou not to have that information. They need all the possible trump cards they can get, after all.

24\. She doesn’t expect Sinbad to actually _show up in Balbadd_. He’s brought Ja’far and Masrur with him too. At least he doesn’t have his metal vessels on him. Small mercies. “What are you doing here?” she almost-hisses. If this leads the Kou to think they’re reneging on their treaty…

25\. Then, of course, she sees Aladdin. What with all the tension with Kou, they hadn’t been able to leave Balbadd to search for him like they’d planned. Funny that he finds his way to them instead. He still has no idea that Alibaba’s king, and she doesn’t know how to break it to him.

“You have to leave,” she tells him. It’s also addressed to Sinbad and his retainers. “It’s not safe for you here.” She doesn’t want to think about Kou’s reaction if they discover they have a magi here. Kou with _two_ magi… now _that_ ’s a terrifying thought.

26\. She’s right. She’s right, and she wishes she wasn’t, as they watch the Kou fleet approach Balbadd. They’ve taken Sinbad’s presence as a declaration of hostility—it’s well known that the Seven Seas Alliance and the Kou Empire are two rival forces, and Sindria, Sinbad, is undeniably the head of the Seven Seas Alliance.

Alibaba, brave and loyal, refuses to leave his people. “I’ll fight to the end,” Alibaba declares. “What king of king would run away and leave his people behind?” To stay would almost certainly mean death for him. Kou will want to make an example out of Balbadd’s leader. She wracks her brain, trying to find some solution… only it turns out to be unnecessary. Sinbad knocks Alibaba out and catches him as he crumples. She, Cassim, and the royal guards have their hands on their weapons immediately. This is an act of hostility against their king. 

“Calm down,” Sinbad says. “This is for his own good.” They don’t relax, and in turn, Masrur and Ja’far flank their king’s sides. 

The tension only ends when Barkak forces himself to drop his hand from where it was resting on the hilt of his blade. “Go,” he says. “Take our king somewhere safe.” She agrees with Barkak’s decision, knows Sinbad _will_ shelter Alibaba, if only to have another useful pawn. Having another metal vessel user on his side is no small thing.

27\. “You go with him,” she tells Aladdin and Morgiana. Her memories of Before are faded, tattered things, now, but she knows the three of them will be okay. 

“Miss Mariam, you’re not coming?” Aladdin asks. 

She smiles sadly, exchanges looks with her brother. She wishes he would leave, but knows well enough that, just like her, Cassim could never abandon Balbadd to save their own skins. They will stay. “No,” she agrees, and tries not to think of how furious and upset Alibaba will be when he wakes up on the ship without them. 

Alibaba has more ahead of him, she knows. She has faith that he will return to Balbadd one day. But for now, for the first time in a decade, their paths will diverge. They will stay behind, and he will go. 

_Goodbye_ , she thinks. 

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: What do you think? It’s kind of different from my usual style, so feedback would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Then again, I kind of change writing styles halfway through; the beginning approaches more full-on scenes compared to the middle… whoops. 
> 
> Also, I wrote this all in one sitting and edited it in the same sitting before posting, so… yeah. 
> 
> Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
> 
> ~ Silver


End file.
